On Football: The mysterious journey into NFL 2020 begins

Van Morrison sang about going “Into Mystic.” Grateful De called it a “long, strange trip” in “Truckin'.” young women in “Frozen” contemplated “Into Unkwn.”

Whatever your choice of musical genre, y all apply to NFL's next few months. Or weeks. Or days. During a pandemic, who kws?

“I don’t expect it at all to go smoothly throughout whole season," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan says. "Wher re’s COVID or t COVID, so many things happen in an NFL season that it’s always a different team that you end with than that you started with just with injuries and everything that happens. On top of that, putting in a pretty unprecedented thing that we are going through with state of this pandemic and everything. I definitely expect things to happen.

" You’ve got to be rey to just to all of that . Everyone’s going to do as good as y can, which I think we have as good of a situation as possible with that stuff. You’re expecting things to happen when it does. So, you just deal with it best you can, you make sure people are healthy and you’re doing things right way, And you hope you never have something where it makes it impossible to go out re and compete.”

That's a possibility, of course. league has contingency upon contingency, ranging from postponing or moving games to canceling some to, yes, playing Super Bowl after Feb. 7. Perhaps well after.

But, keeping with musical interludes — after all, stands will be barren in most stiums, so we need something — let's examine, as Kenny Chesney suggests, “Here And w.”

SEPTEMBER SLOPPINESS

first few weeks of schedule in rmal times tend to be marred by mediocre play caused by sloppiness. Starters and or key members of roster would get little to work in preseason games, making for a melange of mistakes that fe as season progresses.

With preseason games, in-person offseason work except a modified training camp with few segments of hitting, and chemistry developed, product that millions upon millions of fans have awaited might be shabby this month. Texans' defense showed that on Thursday night — yes, we kw y were playing powerful Chiefs — with missed tackle upon missed tackle.

“I think when you watch NFL football in September, regardless of year, you see a degree of b football out re on field,” says Joe Judge, new coach of Giants and, likely, a front-line witness to such problems at outset. "Turvers, penalties, some mental errors. You see some things within flow and operation of game that isn’t way it looks later in season. That’s just truth of National Football League every year.

“Obviously, we’re coaching to eliminate b football. That’s my goal as a he coach. I don’t kw if this year will be any different. I can’t turn around and say it’s going to be better or worse. But I think in September, you always see your share of b football as it turns up on tape.”

PLAYER DEMONSTRATIONS

NFL at last is recognizing issues Colin Kaepernick was attempting to bring light to when he kneeled for national anm in 2016. It is supporting cause with words, money and deeds — though players aren't convinced those deeds are having impact sought.

Still, players' (and coaches' and team personnel and executives') right to free speech and peaceful demonstrations will be on display for as long as games are played in 2020. Players will hor victims of racial and social injustice and police brutality by wearing ir names on decals. re will be slogans in end zones. re will be more kneeling or or methods for getting out word — including remaining in locker room during pregame playing of anms.

re will be stey and widespre initiatives to get people registered to vote — and n into voting booths or able to submit absentee and mail-in ballots.

“We’re going to support any player and every player however y want to protest or whatever y want to do from that standpoint,” says Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who is Black. Flores' players have demanded in a video that "owners with influence and pockets bigger than ours ... call up officials and flex political power.”

“Those conversations are ongoing and again, I think topics y’re talking about are very serious, and we respect each guy’s opinion and right to protest or t protest,” ds Flores, whose Dolphins plan to remain in locker room during songs on Sunday. "But I would also say that a lot of guys, y just want to focus on game and that’s in more of those conversations — how do we do whatever we’re going to do, but also just have our total focus on New England Patriots.”

FOCUSING ON FOOTBALL

Flores brings up a significant point. tunnel vision that once caused Don Shula to think actor Don Johnson of TV show “Miami Vice” was actually from police department will be rare. Perhaps impossible.

Players won't be in a bubble like highly successful dual sites NHL has used. ir situation will be more that of Major League Baseball, with players — and all or team staff — being trusted to, as one general manr says, “act like responsible ults.”

“re’s a lot going on right w for he coaches in National Football League, and it’s t just about trying to get roster to 53,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said before cutdown day. "It’s social issues. It’s pandemic issues. A lot of se teams are getting rey to travel for ro games and things. We’re going to kind of get out of our bubble just a little bit with season creeping up on us, so we’re dealing with a lot of things.

“But majority that I’ve talked to are in support of ir players, and we’re trying to figure this thing out toger. ”

Im credits: AP